Vigil held for trans girl aged 14 who committed suicide

A vigil was held in the US town of Racine yesterday in memory of a teenager who took their own life on Sunday.

Alexis ‘Lexi’ Lopez committed suicide on Sunday, and since, a vigil has been held commemorating the teenager, and students at Horlick High School are to start The Lexi Project, to tackle issues around anti-LGBT bullying.

Fox6Now Milwaukee reported that Lopez identified as trans, and was sometimes known by the name Landon. Friends said Lexi was a victim of bullying.

Stuffed animals and balloons were left at the corner where Lexi lived, and over 200 people gathered outside the house where the 14-year-old lived.

“There really wasn’t a reason not to like her. She loved music. She was very artistic,” Lopez’ best friend, Destiny Zaehler said.

LGBT Racine has also said it will be working with the high school on the issue of anti-LGBT bullying. Jolie McKenna, who works for the organisation told Fox6Now: “On Thursday I am going to speak. I am bringing the Kenosha County Suicide Coalition director and myself are going to go speak to kind of debrief with the kids about what this means and answer some of their questions. I’m sure there’s a lot of issues and questions that kids have.”

The Racine School District has said it was not aware of any issues of bullying surrounding Lopez, and no incident reports were filed.

Stacey Tapp with the Racine Unified Schools said: “In light of this tragic situation, the principal is working with her students, and we have some student leadership groups that have really stepped up and want to do something in regards to bullying.”